Identity. 

It's concept has been overstretched by those who perceive it differently. 

"It is who you choose to be" 

"It is who you say you are" 

"It is who others see you as", 

and the rest of the poetic nonsense. 

Our identity builds from when we are born. We start out as mindless babies, oblivious to all judgement and opinions. We grow at different paces, forged by our surroundings. An infant human brain is affected by all that is sees and hears, by its physical means. We grow with varying curiosity and fascination, based on our exposure and observations. We overuse the opportunity to question all that can be questioned. So technically, everything. And in this flood of queries, many remain unpicked. Gradually, the need of closure stops itching us. Once the itch is gone, our questions reduce in bulk. We just observe, and confer. As the questions stop, more of than not, so does the ingenuity. The unreasonable seems justified and the cruelties remain unquestioned. The pests in the society manifest with pride. To us, no thorn seems sharp enough. 

All though, that concern remains insidious. We grow up recording each experience to cheat the hand of fate. Eventually retract our hand from flame, as the fear of burn sets in. Alongside the fear of pain, rejection, failure and misfortune. We build a cocoon of our fears, woven by our experience. With this cocoon of fear, are cocoons of many bundles of experiences which define us. This definition is a story. Thus, everyone has a story to tell. This is mine. 

We grow up around what we see, carved by circumstance. I grew up in India. Formerly known as the land of riches, currently known for its Taj Mahal. Indians, the culturally diverse, take pride in it. We cannot uniformly define it, which adds to its glory. All of us carry a separate dictionary for a personal satisfaction. While the illusions include our spicy food, snakecharming, bollywood, my prospective meaning is rather poisonous. Our culture also endorses sexism, child marriage, dowry, religious intolerance, gender roles, homophobia and what not. We use something as beautiful as our culture to justify our narrow minds and social injustices. I am a patriot, yet I despise what this country cherishes most. Go figure.